NU women let another close one slip away at home

By Fred Kelly fred.kelly@mdn.net

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, February 17, 2013

Earlier this season, it looked like Northwood’s women’s basketball team might contend for a GLIAC North championship. A few weeks and a few gut-wrenching losses later, and the Timberwolves are fighting just to keep their dwindling postseason hopes alive.

In a scenario which NU coach Jeff Curtis has witnessed too many times this season, his Timberwolves let another second-half lead slip away on Saturday, as visiting Grand Valley State roared back from a 12-point deficit to win 60-57 at the Bennett Center.

At 11-14 overall and, more importantly, at 9-10 in the conference, the Timberwolves probably would not make the GLIAC Tournament if the postseason started today — a frustrating prospect for a team which was only two games out of first place in late January.

“Every game’s a must-win. That’s what we’ve said the last two weeks — every game’s basically a must-win for us now,” Curtis said. “You can’t approach it any other way. Every game’s (like) a playoff game, because if you don’t win today, you might not have a tomorrow.”

Northwood’s Achilles heel — finishing poorly — struck the Timberwolves again on Saturday. NU came out of halftime hot and stretched a three-point lead to eight, then to 10, and eventually to 12 before falling apart down the stretch.

The Lakers outscored the Timberwolves 22-7 the rest of the way to improve to 17-6, 13-6.

“We had a nice lead there and then just completely lost our focus. And the majority of (the problem) was our defensive mistakes,” Curtis said. “We weren’t sharp, we gave up easy shots, we didn’t communicate on screens, and it cost us.

“ ... It’s disappointing,” he added. “Our mental mistakes cost us the game, that’s all there is to it.”

Northwood missed a bevy of layups early and fell behind 8-2 by the first media timeout. A few minutes later, however, sophomore point guard Gabrielle Rivette started to heat up for the Timberwolves, hitting a 3-pointer and a pair of driving layups to give NU a boost and keep the game close.

Northwood then ran off nine straight points to take a 25-23 lead, its first of the game. With the score tied at 29-29, Rachel Church finished the first half with a 3-pointer to give the Timberwolves a 32-29 edge heading into the locker room.

NU then opened the second half with two free throws by Church and a 3-pointer by Lauren Robak to make it 37-29. A pair of free throws by Robak moments later pushed the lead to double digits, 43-33, and another 3-pointer by Church shortly afterward made it 50-38 — the biggest lead of the game for either team — with nine minutes to play.

But GVSU got 3-pointers from Kat LaPrairie and Briauna Taylor only seconds apart, then added a fast-break layup by Dani Crandall and back-door layups by Taylor and Jill Steinmetz in a 12-0 run which tied the game at 50-50 with 4:39 remaining.

Curtis said that lack of communication by his defense led to too many easy looks for the Lakers during the run.

“Going into this game with the game plan we had, if we didn’t communicate, we were going to be in trouble,” he noted. “ ... In a game like that, you’ve got to have everyone on the same page (defensively), and the only way to do that is to communicate.”

Church answered with a steal and a 3-point play to temporarily stem the tide and give NU the lead back, 53-50, but Grand Valley didn’t let up. The Lakers answered right back with another 3-pointer by LaPrairie to tie it and eventually took a 59-55 lead with just under a minute left on six straight points by Taylor.

Church was fouled and hit two free throws with 43 seconds left to cut it to 59-57, and the Timberwolves caught a huge break moments later when Taylor attempted to drive into the lane but collided with a teammate. She ended up being whistled for traveling and injured her back on the play — forcing her from the game and giving NU the ball with 17 seconds left and a chance to tie or win it.

Coming out of a timeout, Church tried to get an open look from beyond the arc but couldn’t. She then attempted to penetrate the lane but dribbled the ball off her foot. The loose ball ended up being tied up, and the Lakers were awarded possession with only three seconds to play.

“It’s just disappointing when we get the stop we need to get down the stretch and the ball’s in our hands (with a chance to) tie or win it, and we did neither,” Curtis said. “We didn’t even get a shot off. That’s very frustrating to me.”

Northwood fouled LaPrairie right away to stop the clock, and she split a pair of free throws to make it a three-point margin. Kaitlin Susan rebounded the miss on LaPrairie’s second free throw, took a couple of quick dribbles upcourt, and launched a desperation shot from the far side of halfcourt which fell well short at the buzzer.

“They stepped up and got the plays they needed to, and unfortunately, we did not,” said Curtis, whose Timberwolves are 0-5 in games decided by six points or fewer.

“Once again, it’s a home game that comes down to the last possession, and it slips through our hands,” he added. “We’re giving ourselves a chance, but we’ve got to seize the opportunity when we have it. And today, we just let (the opportunity) fall.”

Grand Valley shot 49 percent (24 of 49) from the floor to NU’s 38 percent (21 of 56), and Taylor led the Lakers with a game-high 24 points, including 13 in the second half.

Church paced NU with 16 points, while Rivette and Robak added 11 each.

The Timberwolves head to Michigan Tech on Thursday, then to Northern Michigan on Saturday before hosting Saginaw Valley State on March 2 to end the regular season.